How can I play DTS-HD and Dolby TrueHD through my home theatre system supporting DTS and Dolby Digital ?

Question

How can I play DTS-HD and Dolby TrueHD through my home theatre system supporting DTS and Dolby Digital by means of Optical and coaxial cable? Is it really possible?? I am using my PC as the source and willing to buy a Creative Sound Blaster PCI Express X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Champion Series or PCI Express X-Fi Titanium Professional Audio or ASUS Xonar HDAV1.3 Deluxe to play DTS-HD master audio.I need you guys to help me find the best audio card for audio creation as well as supporting DTS-HD and Dolby truHD and a possible way of using my home theatre to play HD audio formats........help me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
THANK YOU

Answer 1

It is impossible to stream audio soundtracks from Blu-ray Discs (and HD DVDs) that have been encoded using any of the new high-resolution, high bitrate multichannel audio compression codecs such as DTS-HD Master Audio, DTS-HD High Resolution Audio, Dolby TrueHD and Dolby Digital Plus over S/PDIF connections. S/PDIF cannot support the high data rates that result from the use of these new high-resolution audio codecs. You will need to use high data-rate, DRM-compliant interfaces such as HDMI or IEEE 1394 (FireWire) to pass data-streams encoded with these audio codecs.



To the best of my knowledge Creative Labs does not currently produce any audio/sound cards that support the aforementioned audio codecs; however ASUS and Auzentech claim to currently have audio cards that do. (Please see the resources listed below for more information.)



You will also need to address the software content protection requirements as well. Specifically you will need to use the appropriate playback software such as PowerDVD, WinDVD or ArcSoft’s TotalMedia as well as an operating system such as Windows Vista that have been designed to offer AACS and 5C DTCP compliance through support of output content protection mechanisms such as code signing (including signed drivers) for protected media components as well as Protected User Mode Audio (PUMA) / Protected Audio Path (PAP).



######################## RESOURCES ########################



“Hi-Def Audio on a PC?”

http://www.crn.com/article/printableArticle.jhtml?articleId=200001269



“Mastering HD PC Audio, Part 1: You Can’t Always Get There From Here”

http://www.tomsguide.com/us/high-def-audio-hdmi,review-1088.html

“Mastering HD PC Audio, Part 2: Following the PC Audio Chain for Blu-Ray Playback”

http://www.tomsguide.com/us/HD-PC-Audio,review-1101.html



Signal to Noise - Dolby TrueHD & DTS-HD MA vs. Uncompressed PCM

http://www.hemagazine.com/node/Dolby_TrueHD_DTS-MA_versus_Uncompressed_PCM



Follow Up: High Resolution Audio and HDMI 1.3

http://guide.printthis.clickability.com/pt/cpt?action=cpt&urlID=23429683&url=http://ultimateavmag.com/features/807hdmi13/index.html



Nvidia HDMI with audio?

https://answersrip.com/question/index?qid=20070809193332AAhZbpi



ASUSTeK Computer (PCI-Express) Audio Cards

http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=25&l2=150



Auzentech Audio Cards

http://www.auzentech.com/site/products/cards.php



ATI Radeon HD 4600 & 4800 series support 7.1 channel HDMI audio!

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1029603&pp=60

Audio Processing in Vista Explained

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=713073&pp=60



Output Content Protection and Windows Vista

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device/media/output_protect.mspx?pf=true

[PPT] TWEN05005 - Longhorn Output Content Protection

http://download.microsoft.com/download/9/8/f/98f3fe47-dfc3-4e74-92a3-088782200fe7/TWEN05006_WinHEC05.ppt

 

Answer 2

Actually, the answers given already are moot, though correct. To answer your question directly... technically, you will hear sounds with your connection, but they will not be "TrueHD" or "DTS-HD" sounds. Essentially, your receiver will throw away information for the extra two speakers. So, ANY receiver that handles 5.1 channels well will pretty much be equivalent. You are smart to think that a small room doesn't need all 7 channels. So, just get the best 5 channel receiver you desire and don't sweat the other stuff... your concerns are actually irrelevant - except for wondering whether the connection will produce sounds.

Answer 3

Good question, my dear!